Google Is Going To Pay To Run Its Buses In San Francisco

It looks like Google and the city of San Francisco have struck a deal when it comes to the operation of the search giant's buses that help employees commute from the city to Google's offices in Mountain View, California.

Here's a tweet that came in from Sarah McBride, a journalist in San Francisco.

— Sarah G McBride (@mcbridesg) January 6, 2014

Last month, this issue made headlines when protestors of the Google busses took to the streets demanding that Google pay the city of San Francisco to operate the same way public transportation busses do.

Protestors complained that the influx of tech workers to these neighborhoods far from corporate campuses are driving up housing costs.

According to SFGate, the city's Mayor Ed Lee announced a pilot program today. The shuttle companies, such as Bauer's and Compass Transportation, will be subject to a fee based on the number of stops they make in Muni (San Francisco Public Transportation) bus zones.

That fee will presumably will be passed along to the contracting tech and other companies.

"Currently, private shuttle companies use approximately 200 Muni bus stops to load and unload their passengers, according to city estimates. About 4,500 daily round-trips serve approximately three dozen companies," SFGate reports.